AMHERST - Sleep deprived teen-agers could be getting some relief, depending on recommendations from school officials.

The Later Start Times Task Force recently submitted its report to Amherst Regional School Superintendent Maria Geryk and the Amherst Regional School Committee coming up with four options for change.

But due to costs of two of those options, the task force is focusing on the two others, both of which could be implemented for minimal costs.

Those options included switching the bus runs for secondary and elementary school, which would mean elementary would start and end an hour earlier while middle and high school would start and end an hour later. This option provides the best sleep benefit but also has the most negative aspect on elementary families and after school sports, according to the report.

The other option is to start and end both elementary and secondary school 30 minutes later. Instead of middle and high school starting at 7:45 a.m. as they do now, they’d begin at 8:15. Elementary school would begin at 9:10 instead of 8:40.

The secondary school day would end at 2:50, instead of 2:20 and elementary would at 3:35, instead of 3:05.

Joshua S. Goldstein, task force chairman, said more than 1,000 completed the survey including parents of both secondary and elementary school students, secondary school students and school staff.

In the secondary level, he said “the hour delay gives you more sleep benefits,” however it has a “bigger impact on sports.”

He said, “the research shows the half hour does matter” for the teens and there are “ways to remediate that half hour” difference.

He said there could be early morning child-care for instance.

According to the results, 84 percent of secondary parents said the 30-minute change would have a positive effect on their children and 79 percent said it would have a positive effect on them. But only 40 percent of elementary school parents said it would have a positive effect on them,with 45 percent reporting a negative effect. But 65 percent of those parents said the change would have a positive effect on students.

According to the report, changing sleep cycles start around puberty and “predispose teens to stay up later and not easily wake up early.”

In January, the Northampton School Committee rejected a bid to starting school 30 minutes later. Then Superintendent Isabelina Rodriguez, reported that buses would not be available to pick the high school students at 2:30 p.m., the end of the reconfigured day and students would have to remain at the school unsupervised for an hour or more.

That would not be a problem in Amherst.

South Hadley School officials are also talking about changing start times.

Goldstein said that Geryk will make a recommendation to the school committees. As a regional system, any change would have to be approved by the Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett elementary school committees and the regional committee. The Amherst Pelham Educators Association would need to be notified about the proposed schedule changes.

“The task force does not anticipate conflicts associated with renegotiating work hours,” according to the report.

Any change would not be instituted until the autumn of 2012 if approved, Goldstein said.